Task Force Arrests Two, Seizes Meth Lab at Home

A hotline call to the Franklin County office of the Division of Family Services last week led to the arrest of two people and the seizure of methamphetamine and meth lab components.

The hotline caller reported Thursday, Jan. 31, that two children, ages 8 and 9, were living in the home where meth was being cooked, according to Detective Cpl. Scott Briggs of the Franklin County Narcotics Enforcement Unit.

Task force officers went to the home in the 1700 block of Peacock Road, west of St. Clair, and contacted the mother of the children, Briggs said. They were given permission to search the residence and in an attached workroom area they found a “large amount of chemicals” along with seven 2-liter bottles that had been used to make meth.

They also found some finished methamphetamine in a dish on a table in the parent’s bedroom, Briggs said.

The children were taken into protective custody by DFS personnel, Briggs said.

The woman, age 32, was taken into custody.

Task force officers later located the father, age 30, and he was taken to the county jail.

Both parents were booked and released pending lab analysis of evidence, Briggs said. They were not identified because they have not been charged.

Briggs said the task force did not have prior contact with the couple, but had obtained information from pill logs that they and acquaintances had been purchasing pseudoephedrine at pharmacies in St. Louis.